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LaTeX is a system for composing technical documentation using command tags. LaTeX editors allow formatting of complex content and are commonly used in academia and engineering. Documents appear as plain text until final commands are applied to produce the final output. Files can be stored as DVI files and updated easily. Debugging may require a trained eye. Specific TeX user groups and tutorials are available for advanced use.
Pronounced “lah-tech” or “lay-tech,” LaTeX is a system for composing documentation. A LaTeX editor is an open source text tool that allows you to format complex content with command tags applied. Unlike word processing programs, which are typically WYSIWYG — What You See Is What You Get— documents prepared in LaTeX appear as plain text with no formatting until the final commands that control typesetting and output properties are applied to produce the actual document. Preparing scientific, mathematical, or other highly technical documentation that uses specialized symbols and equations can use a LaTeX editor for typesetting publications.
In academia, LaTeX editors may be more widely known, as they can be used to complete journals, articles, and large documents containing subscript, superscript, and foreign language characters. Command packages are available within academic or technical specialties so that common commands of a profession or field are easily accessible during document preparation. In professional fields such as engineering, LaTeX is generally considered a stable tool for updating technical content.
Users of a LaTeX editor can insert content within the larger command structure of LaTeX while inserting pieces of text into the open and close commands for typing and layout. Tables, figures and automatic indexing can also be set up with commands and fonts and image details can be sequenced. Curly braces, key commands, and backslashes are some of the tools used to create sequences for editing with a LaTeX editor.
Files created with these control sequences can be stored as Device Independent (DVI) files which can then be converted and read as postscript text files. Since a LaTeX editor is not itself a word processing program, a typesetting translation translation program typically reads postscript or .TeX files. Having the ability to produce fully paginated portable DVI files is considered a strong advantage of using LaTeX. It is also possible to update documents created years ago with the same command structures as the original, which is another advantage.
Experienced LaTeX users generally find it easy to edit documents in a LaTeX editor, but learning how to use this content system can take some time. The ability to edit one page of a multi-volume document and update the main content page of the document without having to reformat the entire document set is usually easier in LaTeX. Debugging an output file that isn’t formatted correctly, however, may require a trained eye to find the command line that isn’t properly sequenced. For help using a LaTeX editor, there are specific TeX user groups on the Internet, as well as free and paid programs and tutorials for advanced use.
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